200 Years of Tech Panics: From Bicycles to AI

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- [Narrator] Pop quiz!

What invention
is this historical quote

referring to?

- [man 1] "In the future years,
it will be found that the [beep]

has had a permanent effect
upon the morals of our age.

Go into our homes, and you will see

that father and mother
and brother and sister

bow in subjection to the [beep]."

- [Narrator] Any guesses?

The radio, TV, video games?

The smartphone?

Wrong! Who guessed
the teddy bear?

While it might seem silly

to fret over a "fuzzy,
stupid stuffed animal"

and to call a teddy bear
"a horrid little beast" --

it's not out of the norm at all.

New inventions
are a continual source of fear.

What about perfectly innocent
inventions like bicycles?

- [woman] "The bicycle
is the devil's advance agent,

morally and physically,

in thousands of instances."

- [Narrator] Wow! Bicycles
were the work of the devil?

Wonder what people thought
about the invention of cars?

- [man 1] "Motoring
is one of the most contemptible,

soul-destroying,
and devitalizing pursuits."

- [Narrator] In England,
fears of these horseless carriages

led to a speed limit of just 4 mph,

with a person walking ahead

waving a red flag
to warn bystanders.

Every significant invention
caused a moral panic in its time:

radio,

electricity,

TV,

Internet,

smartphones, and, yes,

even books!

Socrates was not a fan.

- [man 2] "Books
will create forgetfulness

in the learners' souls

because they will not use
their memories."

- [Narrator] What about
artificial intelligence?

It's normal and natural to see AI

and fear how it might
change society.

It has the potential
of a civilizational destruction.

- [Narrator] However,
if history is any guide,

we have little hope
of accurately predicting

anything about its impact.

You might say,
forget the moral panic,

what about jobs?

Shouldn't we be scared
of being replaced by AI?

Certainly, new technologies
will take some jobs,

just as they have in the past.

Ever heard of the job
"knocker-upper"?

It's not what it sounds like!

During the Industrial Revolution,

it was someone's job

to go door to door
and wake people up.

So roosters were replaced
by knocker-uppers,

who were replaced by alarm clocks,

which were replaced by cell phones,

which will probably eventually
be replaced by something else.

Many of the voices you've heard
in this video aren't people,

but AI-generated.

- [AI voice] Hi. I'm Hal.

- [AI voice] I'm Samantha.

- [AI voice] My name is Rachael.

- [Narrator] Don't worry,
I'm a real human

and still have a job...

- [AI voice] For now!

- [Narrator] Oh, boy!

But knocker-upper is one job.

What does the data say

about the overall trends
in job loss?

Here's the unemployment rate
and labor force participation rate

in the United States since 1950.

Despite all the technological
advancements of the past century,

labor force participation
has remained steady

and unemployment hasn't shot up.

Why?

Technology destroys,

but it also creates.

Knocker-uppers
might be out of a job,

but there were plenty of new jobs
created for designing,

manufacturing, marketing,
and distributing alarm clocks.

[ringing]

Think of all the career
opportunities

that didn't exist a decade ago.

So should we be worried
about technology?

At the individual level, maybe.

Depending on your job,

you could be
the next knocker-upper,

switchboard operator,
or voiceover actor.

Wait, what? Come on!

- [background voice] Okay. Cut!

- [AI narrator]
While AI might replace

some voiceover actors,

at a societal level,

history suggests that we will see

both jobs lost
and new jobs created,

many of which
we can't even imagine.

But could this time be different?

[dramatic noises]

We'll explore this question
in future videos.

But if history is any guide,

the terminators we fear
will turn out to be teddy bears.

If you're a teacher, you should
check out our free unit plan

that uses this video.

If you're a student,
visit the links in the description

for more resources
on how to use AI to learn.

Or if you're just curious
to watch more videos like this,

check out this playlist.

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